title: Cathepsin B, cathepsin H, cathepsin X and cystatin C in sera of patients with early-stage and inflammatory breast cancer.
abstract: Numerous studies have linked cathepsins and their inhibitor cystatin C to tumor invasion and metastasis. We examined whether cathepsin B, cathepsin H, cathepsin X and cystatin C could be detected in sera from women with early stage or inflammatory breast cancer and whether they correlated with clinicopathological characteristics. Preoperative serum was obtained from 176 patients with early-stage breast cancer (tumor size <or= 5 cm, negative lymph nodes) and 31 patients with inflammatory breast cancer. Cathepsin and cystatin C levels were measured by ELISA. The patient and tumor characteristics under study were age at diagnosis, menopausal status, tumor size, tumor grade, and steroid hormone receptor status. Serum cathepsin B levels were significantly lower in patients with poorly differentiated tumors. High cystatin C levels were associated with tumor size, postmenopausal status and patient age. Interestingly, significantly lower levels of cathepsin X and H were found in patients with inflammatory breast cancer, a trend also observed for cathepsin B and cystatin C. In conclusion, our results show a limited association of cathepsins B, H, X and cystatin C with established prognostic parameters. These data are promising and encourage future analysis of the clinical outcome of our patients in order to examine the potential prognostic value of these biomarkers. Further, this study indicates a role for cathepsin X and H in inflammatory breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Experimental Oncology, K.U. Leuven, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven - Belgium. julie.decock@med.kuleuven.be
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Decock
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Obermajer
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vozelj
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hendrickx
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Paridaens
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology*; D002401:Cathepsin B / Q000097:blood*; D056655:Cathepsin H; D056657:Cathepsin K; D002403:Cathepsins / Q000097:blood*; D055316:Cystatin C / Q000097:blood*; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases / Q000097:blood*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D055316:Cystatin C; D002403:Cathepsins; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases; D002401:Cathepsin B; C534126:CTSH protein, human; D056655:Cathepsin H; C534130:CTSK protein, human; D056657:Cathepsin K